The book
First Contact.
Why every company in your category sounds the same, and the one position none of them took. Fourteen chapters, about an hour, free.
What's in it
It closes with a scorecard you can print and run against your own category. One page per company, six competitors — a picture of where everyone stands.
What it isn't
It isn't a writing book. There is nothing in it about headlines, verbs, or how to phrase anything. Every chapter is a decision you make and hand to somebody else.
That's deliberate. Advice about how to write implies that writing is the thing you were missing, and it almost never is. Your team can write. What they're missing is a decision that survived the meeting.
A sample, so you know what you're getting
Every generic sentence you've ever read was produced by intelligent people acting reasonably.
Someone writes a sharp line. It says something specific and slightly risky. Then it goes around the building.
Sales says it excludes a segment they're actively selling into. That's true. Legal says it's a claim you'd have to substantiate. Also true. The head of the second business unit points out that it describes the first business unit's customers, not theirs. They'd like to be represented. Fair. Product notes that the roadmap makes that language inaccurate by Q3. Correct.
Each of those objections is legitimate. Each one removes one specific edge. Nobody in the room ever argued for weak language — they argued for accuracy, for fairness across business units, for not overclaiming, for legal safety. Weak language is what those arguments produce when you add them together.
— Chapter four
Take it
Forward it, print it, put it in a board pack, hand it to your agency. No permission needed.
If you'd rather skip the argument and use the instrument, the model is on one page — or score your own homepage in three minutes.